Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has introduced a Rabbit Plan thatencourages people to start eating rabbits rather than keep them as pets ina bid to tackle the country's food shortages.

Venezuela has been ravaged by an ongoing economic crisis spurred by thesocialist policies of Maduro and his predecessor, the late formerPresident Hugo Chavez.

Low supplies of food and medicine are leaving millions of people starvingand desperate for medical treatment. A study published earlier this yearreported that roughly 75 percent of Venezuelans lost an average of 19pounds in the last year due to food shortages, Fox News reported.

Appearing on state television, Maduro suggested people should start eatingrabbits as a less expensive alternative to other meat, the BBC reported.

For animal protein, which is such an important issue, a 'rabbit plan' hasbeen approved because rabbits also breed like rabbits, he said.

The plan was devised as a fight back against an alleged economic war wagedagainst the country by foreign governments, especially the U.S. andPresident Donald Trump, NPR reported.

But the move to start consuming rabbits has run into a cultural problem,according to Freddy Bernal, Venezuelas minister of urban agriculture, whoalso appeared on the television program.

After Maduro gave rabbits to 15 communities as a pilot program to feed thecountry, most people decided to keep the animals as pets.

When he came back, to his surprise he found people had put little bows ontheir rabbits and were keeping them as pets, it was an early setback toPlan Rabbit, Bernal said, according to the BBC, noting that most peopletook them to bed.

There is a cultural problem, because we have been taught that the rabbitis very nice. But seeing it from the point of view of the (economic) war,one rabbit arrives and in two months we have a rabbit of two and a halfkilos, he added.

Bernal also said the government needs to begin a campaign in the media sothat the people understand that rabbits aren't pets but two and a halfkilos of meat.

The Rabbit Plan prompted stark condemnation from the opposition, whichcalled the program a bad joke and said Maduro believes the people arestupid.--Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar indenial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown carparade of the democrat party has run out of gas.

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Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimumwage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can'tbe funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how greatit is.

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http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/09/15/pets-or-meat-venezuelas-maduro-urges-starving-populace-to-eat-rabbits.html?intcmp=ob_article_sidebar_video&intcmp=obnetworkVenezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has introduced a “Rabbit Plan” thatencourages people to start eating rabbits rather than keep them as pets ina bid to tackle the country's food shortages.

Police Believe Thieves Steal Venezuela Zoo Animals to Eat Them

REUTERS

MARACAIBO, Venezuela — Venezuela authorities are investigating the theft ofanimals from a zoo in western state of Zulia that were likely snatched to beeaten, a further sign of hunger in a country struggling with chronic foodshortages.

A police official said two collared peccaries, which are similar inappearance to boars, were stolen over the weekend from the ZuliaMetropolitan Zoological Park in the sweltering city of Maracaibo near theColombian border.

"What we presume is that they (were taken) with the intention of eatingthem," Luis Morales, an official for the Zulia division of the NationalPolice, told reporters on Tuesday.

The chaotic collapse of the country's socialist economic model has createdchronic food shortages that have fueled malnutrition and left millionsseeking food anywhere they can find it, including in trash cans anddumpsters.

President Nicolas Maduro blames food shortages on opposition protests thathave blocked streets and highways and a broader "economic war" led byadversaries with the help of Washington.

But zoo head Leonardo Nunez said a wave of thefts that in recent weeks hadaffected 10 species including a buffalo, which he said was cut into pieces,was orchestrated by "drug dealers" seeking to sell the animals.

"They take everything here! The animals weren't stolen to be eaten," Nunezsaid in an interview on Wednesday.

Mauricio Castillo, a former zoo director, said thieves had made off with twotapirs, a jungle animal that is also similar to a pig that is described asvulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation ofNature.

Shortages have also left zoos without sufficient food to feed animals, withsome 50 animals starving to death last year at a Caracas zoos, according toa union leader.

The government denied the animals had starved, insisting they had beentreated "like family."